>> reporter: well, scott, obama campaign officials tell me the president is not coming into this debate looking far slug-fest with governor romney. that he wants to have a substantive conversation. they think that benefits him. they say he looks at this debate sort of the same way he looked at his convention speech a few weeks ago as a way to reach a much larger audience of americans who are going to be tuning in and want to hear more about his plan specifically when it comes to the middle-class. so because so much of tonight's debate is going to be about the economy, they say we can expect a very frank assessment from him about where the economy was when he took office and what he's done to improve it. >> pelley: nancy, you mentioned the large audience. it's estimated more than 50 million americans will watch tonight. our chief political spore respondent jan crawford is traveling with the romney campaign. jan, same question to you: what does the governor have to do? >> reporter: scott, romney had one final meeting with his advisors and they're telling me he sees tonight as his chance t